What is an FAQ?

FAQ stands for “frequently asked questions,” and is a standard document in nearly every customer service organization today. Typically, FAQs can be found on company or brand websites, but are often used for other purposes as well — for instance, as part of the knowledge base that drives self-service efforts in customer service.

Why Do FAQs Matter to Customer Service?

FAQs are generally considered a “first line of defense” in customer service. They cover the basic questions customers tend to ask about your particular products, services, company, brand, and policies. For instance, for a retail company, an FAQ would answer common questions about shipping and return policies.

FAQs are a good place for “extra information” you’re trying to keep off your main site or app screens so that the customer’s purchasing experience is streamlined, without distractions. At the same time, the FAQ serves as a perfect catch-all for all types of customer questions.

A well-written FAQ can also serve a supplemental purpose of improving search engine optimization (SEO) ranking. By using the right keywords within your FAQ copy, you can push your pages closer to the top of search-results ranking.

Most importantly, though, FAQs serve to put customers’ minds at ease, create transparency around your policies, and provide answers to customer questions without having to involve ticketing or human agents. Customers today prefer to help themselves whenever possible. Well-orchestrated and organized FAQ articles enable this reality for your customers.

How Helpshift SupportsFAQs

Helpshift can help connect your entire knowledge base to your customer service platform, and in particular, can connect your FAQs to all your mobile platforms and apps. FAQ articles are ready for mobile viewing and include a powerful search function that auto-populates user queries based on your content.

For mobile FAQs in particular, the three most important qualities are that they are:

Native — content is cached on the mobile device so it does not need to be downloaded from the web. Users don’t need to leave the app they’re in to view your FAQ.

Searchable — For mobile FAQ viewing, the search field should auto-load with relevant results as the user types to prevent the user from having to type the entire word on a tiny keyboard (and, frankly, because customers expect this functionality now).

Helpshift also supports customers in creating and launching FAQs in the first place, including writing compelling and organized article content, rendering FAQs for different platforms, and making FAQs live for users. An extensive step-by-step guide can be found here.